The Shadow of the Garden
After Blow stepped out with Hervena, Yulia and Skadi were left at the table, pouring for each other and trading talk of magic and school.
"Why is Young Master Blow taking so long?"
At that, Jane rose from her seat as if she had been waiting for the chance.
"Senior, I'll go and look for him."
"Oh, Jane! Would you? My attendants could do it."
"No. I'll just step out myself."
Jane threw on her coat at once. Skadi watched her hurry off, then shrugged.
"What could possibly be wrong?"
"I'm only worried, that's all."
Skadi tried to guess what the two of them might be saying outside, then glanced at the clock. Thirty minutes... Well, they'll wrap it up soon enough and come back in.
With that thought she poured Yulia a crystal glass of clear, amber Ropert malt, and the familiar scent of grain and oak brushed the other girl's nose.
Yulia, her face already a little flushed from the pace of their drinking, turned a question on her.
"Skadi, do you have any plans for next year? You'll be a fifth-year."
"Next year? I'll just keep going to school, I suppose."
"By fifth year you really ought to start thinking about what comes after. I asked because you strike me as someone who might have something a little unusual in mind, Lady Skadi."
The words settled on Skadi with an uncomfortable weight, and she answered with an awkward laugh.
"...I'm keeping every possibility open."
"Any thought of university?"
"I hate studying."
"Haha—you're joking, aren't you?"
"I'm serious..."
Yulia regarded her embarrassed face and went on in a gentle voice.
"Then what about business, the way Young Master Blow does it? From what I've seen, you're on good terms with just about everyone. And that, truthfully, is one of the most basic things there is in business."
"Me, in business? I haven't got the knack for it. I was thinking I might just ask Blow to take me on as an employee."
"Hmm? Lady Skadi, you don't have to sell yourself quite so short."
"I just... feel as if I don't really know myself."
"Then will you go back east?"
"If things stay unclear, I suppose that's what will happen."
Skadi ducked her eyes and drank, and Yulia, watching her, spoke in a voice bright with mischief.
"If you had a marriage prospect, well, that wouldn't be such a bad choice either."
"Pardon?"
Skadi's reaction was so vivid that Yulia covered her mouth and laughed.
"M-marriage?! What would I—?!"
"People who marry early do it even at that age, you know. I imagine it'll come up with a few of them at this Black Bridge Gathering, too."
"Do you have plans, Senior...?"
"I like my work."
"I—I... um, that is..."
Thoroughly flustered, she was saved, fortunately, by the sight of the Ropert malt.
"I—I like drinking!"
"You'd be far too good to end up tied to that, Lady Skadi."
"......"
"My father asks me about marriage now and then, so it's been on my mind."
Skadi stared at Yulia without so much as a blink, and it was almost as if she could hear Blow laughing at her. So she poured the senior another glass and resolved to press a little further in.
"Then there's something I've been personally curious about. You go to gatherings like this quite often, don't you?"
"Well, not as often as that Julbert, but yes."
"If you had to marry exactly one of the people you've seen, who would it be? I want to know."
"You want me to pick one?"
"Yes—and if you don't, a Demon King drops on the Empire!"
"Oh my, that's an awfully heavy burden. And the field as a whole is a complete mess."
To think there existed a person on whom the words complete mess sat so poorly. Even so, Skadi had the feeling that if she played this well, she might at least break even.
Yulia thought for a long while, then shrugged and answered.
"Someone on the order of Young Master Blow?"
"Whaaat?"
Skadi came completely undone and shouted, and every eye in the parlor swung toward her. Yulia looked startled herself. Red to the ears, Skadi rattled on.
"N-no, what could you possibly see in that scoundrel?!"
"You told me to pick one person, so I picked one, didn't I? I even offered him a business proposal. I don't usually extend that sort of thing to just anyone."
"Ah..."
"You have no idea how much effort I put into it. Ah—and in any case, I wonder whether Young Master Blow will even tell you, Lady Skadi."
Yulia's reply was perfectly calm. Feeling herself steadily outplayed, Skadi let out a sigh.
"Then what about you, Lady Skadi? If you had to choose, who would it be?"
"What? I—I don't have anyone I'm close to."
"Really? You seem friendly with the students at school all around. Aren't you close with our Maxim, too?"
Something seemed to cross her mind then, and a faintly wicked smile touched her lips.
"Now that I think of it, at the last festival you came in second in the vote for school queen..."
"No, no!! The others only voted for me as a joke!!"
"Did they? To think I lost to a joke. Anyway—so who is it?"
This was no longer a matter of giving a little and getting a great deal back. Skadi was being buried under the whole sack. If she forced herself to name someone, there was, in fact, one person who came to mind. She simply could not bring herself to say it, and so she squeezed her eyes shut.
"Th-there isn't anyone!!"
"Oh dear. And just like that, the Empire has fallen."
"Ugh..."
"You were the one who asked me, so I rather thought you must have someone in mind yourself."
At Yulia's slyly needling words, Skadi—flustered, red all the way down her neck—filled her glass to the brim and knocked it back at once. She had been had. It had all started with that cursed word, marriage.
Yulia watched her with evident satisfaction, then steered the talk elsewhere.
"Skadi, would you like to try the student council next year? It would be good experience."
"What? No, what would I..."
"Shall I say we understand each other rather well? You could join the secretariat, too. If I make it in, I mean to give the secretariat more weight next year."
"You know how it is... that whole situation."
Thinking of Rebecca and Danvers, who had put themselves forward for vice president, Skadi managed a difficult smile. Yulia studied her for a moment, then tilted her head.
"I wonder. Lady Skadi, you haven't done anything wrong to them, have you? Not so far as I know."
"That's true, but..."
"Why not at least try talking to them once? I can't speak for Danvers, but Lady Rebecca should be all right. I could even arrange the meeting for you."
"......"
Yulia's gaze drifted to the window. She let out a breath, then said,
"At a time like this, it would be nice to ask Young Master Blow."
"He just told me to do whatever felt easiest. That it was fine to keep my distance, the way things are now."
"Did he? That's unexpected."
"Unexpected?"
"Yes. The Young Master Blow I know—I rather think he would have told you to at least try talking to them once."
At that, Skadi found herself remembering the time she had confessed to Blow what had passed with Danvers, and how much comfort she had taken in his telling her she had no cause to feel guilty toward them. ...So that was it. He only said it that way because I'm like this.
When she fell silent, crestfallen, Yulia seemed to pity her and took her hand.
"I'm sorry, Lady Skadi. I think the drink made me say something I shouldn't have. It's only my opinion. Don't dwell on it."
"No. You were worried about me, that's all."
"Have a drink with me, Skadi."
"...Yes, Senior."
"I'd like us to be closer from now on."
"It would be an honor. Thank you."
They touched glasses and sat together, watching the moon hang bright and enormous beyond the window.
The air outside was cold, and yet that very cold lent it a clean, bracing clarity.
In the maze of a garden, Hervena and Blow walked for a long while without a word. The people waiting inside nagged at him a little, but Blow had already decided to take the time and let Hervena speak when she was ready.
They had passed the statue he had noticed at the start some three times before Hervena finally stopped short and, in a trembling voice, barely managed to open her mouth.
"Young Master..."
"Yeah. Hervena."
"Hkk..."
The moment she heard his voice, tears spilled from her in heavy drops. Startled, Blow went to her at once.
"So something did happen."
"What do I do..."
"Take your time. I'll listen as long as you need."
"The truth is..."
Hervena told him, piece by piece and at length, everything she had heard from Mnevoir: that the imperial palace was watching the White Sphere, that he might be put in danger if things went wrong, the process required to summon it, and even the resolve Mnevoir had come to.
Blow listened without a word, then fought to ease the stiffness settling over his face. ...He'd thought it was too peaceful. Of course. He tipped his head back so she would not see and raked a hand through his hair as if he meant to tear it out. Showing what he felt—this much was enough. He shook the feeling off and tried to think with a clear head.
The instant the imperial palace entered the matter, it was plain he could neither avoid it nor do anything about it. So he spoke to her in a deliberately even voice, as if none of it touched him.
"This is a bit outside what I expected. No—I've been thinking too loosely."
"......"
"Who all knows about this?"
"Me, and Skadi, and Teacher said she would tell Senior Yulia and Rebecca as well."
"The ones who were there for the duel with Greig... but Senior Yulia, hmm..."
Blow thought back, just then, to the business proposal Yulia had made a little earlier.
"So she doesn't know yet?"
"I'm not sure."
He stroked his chin and turned it over in silence. If she knew, she wouldn't have offered to invest. So the odds are she doesn't know. It was a contract he had never even signed. It stung, but he decided it was for the best. Better that the thing had never existed than to settle it today and then have to take it back—a hundred times better.
"Good thing I didn't sign."
"......"
"What about Linne and Jane?"
"Teacher didn't tell them."
"Don't tell those two. Especially not Jane."
"Why?"
"I don't want to worry them if I don't have to. Teacher must have had a reason for not calling them in."
...Even at a time like this, he's looking out for Jane. The thought passed through her whether she wanted it or not, but Hervena had no choice except to nod.
"Going to the school is nothing. I can just say I'm stopping by the library."
With that, Blow Deblique let out one long sigh, and at last his thoughts fell into order.
"Better this way. Better than being left in the dark."
Hervena had been staring at his face. Her eyes brimmed, and a tear fell.
"Hkk..."
"Hervena."
"Yes..."
Blow pulled her into a tight embrace, and her trembling came through all the more clearly. ...This kid worries more than she looks, doesn't she. The quarrel with Skadi and Jane at the time of the duel with Greig; the way she had come to him that day and fretted. For all her cool exterior, she seemed to worry a great deal, and to be softer-hearted than she appeared.
"Thank you for telling me quickly. For not stewing on it too long."
"Young Master..."
"It'll be fine. Probably."
"It'll hurt, though. That's why."
"Enough. If Teacher Mnevoir said the same, what am I supposed to do? I'll cooperate properly and get it over with."
"Young Master."
"What."
Hervena stared at him with brimming eyes, then said,
"I'll look for a way I can be of help."
"Hearing that from the top of the class is reassuring."
"Why would you bring that up now..."
"Still better than second."
Hervena let out an empty little laugh, as if she could not believe him.
"They say if you cry and then laugh, disaster follows."
"You're the one who said that, and now you're joking?"
"No reason not to. It's not as if I'm dying tomorrow."
Blow smiled as if he were quite all right. Hervena stared at him, then quickly brushed the tears away.
"I tried not to let it show, as much as I could. I'm sorry."
"Forget it. How could you hide something like that? I would have shown it too. You and Skadi both said something felt off."
"......"
"Let's go in a little later. After we've looked around the garden."
Blow decided to wait until she had calmed, and started walking again. Hervena followed a step behind.
And Jane, who had come outside to look for them—she let her head droop, strengthless, and turned her unwilling feet back toward the hotel.